J.

Cobban
Uncontrolled urban settlement: The kampong question in Semarang (1905 - 1940)

In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 130 (1974), no: 4, Leiden, 403-427

This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl

JAMES L. COBBAN

UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT:

THE KAMPONG QUESTION IN SEMARANG
(1905-1940)

Introduction
One of the characteristics of colonial cities on Java which came to the
fore during the last thirty-five years of Dutch rule was the presence
within the boundaries of the urban municipalities {Stadsgemeenten) of
indigenous villages which existed as independent entities, self-regulating
in their internal [huishoudelijk) affairs, and whose autonomy was
guaranteed by the Dutch East Indian Constitution (Regeeringsregle-
ment) of 1854.1 The inclusion of extensive and often populous villages
(both kampongs and desas) within the boundaries of the cities but
outside the jurisdiction of the city councils led to differences in what
might be termed the areal distribution of prosperity, that is, the
juxtaposition within the cities of contiguous areas varying in physical
attractiveness, population densities, hygienic conditions and standards
of living, as well as to variations in the effectiveness of governing
authority.2 Such differentiation led to tension between the city govern-
ments and the population of the indigenous villages as both sought to
change conditions in the city kampongs and to introducé to them the
physical standards of the urban environment which the city councils
had succeeded in maintaining in the European parts of the cities.
1
The Regeeringsreglement was the result of a series of Government decrees
beginning in 1806 concerned with the governing of the Dutch East Indies.
It remained in effect, with modifications, until its replacement in 1925 by
the Indische Staatsregeling (Wet op de Staatsinrichting van Nederlandsch-
Indië) also periodically modified. The law as it had evolved by 1938 is
reprinted as bijlage 2 in J. J. Schrieke, Inleiding in het Staatsrecht van
Nederlandsch-Indië, Haarlem, 1940, pp. 193-236.
2
The desa is a village surrounded by cultivated fields and waste lands and is
distinguished from the kampong, a settlement with no fields or lands and
found usually within the boundaries of a town or city. This distinction was
noted by L. W. C. van den Berg in "Het Inlandsche Gemeentewezen op Java
en Madura", Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-
Indië, deel 52, 1901, p. 20, and is still in general usage.
404 JAMES L. COBBAN

The present article deals primarily with the indigenous settlements in

their relationship with the city of Semarang during the last twenty-five
years of colonial rule. It provides some insight into the nature of the
colonial city on Java during the twentieth century and gives historical
depth to the phenomena of squatter settlements which have been
characteristic of many cities in Southeast Asia during the past twenty
years. There is no atterhpt to imply that squatter settlements are
identical, particularly from the point of view of legal land titles and
magnitude of problems, with the urban kampongs and desas of the last
decades of the colonial era, but there is a suggestion that the latter are
predecessors of the former and that the characteristics of squatter settle-
ments are not new. The similarities between the two sorts of communities
are striking and reiterate the view that the phenomena of uncontrolled
urban settlement perhaps have only been rediscovered in recent years
because of the numbers of people involved and the greater awareness
of the impact such people have on cities. Much of the information on
Semarang was recorded in the bi-monthly Locale Belangen published
by the society, with headquarters in Semarang, which represented the
body of civic officials created after the incorporation of the urban
municipalities in 1905 and 1906 and founded as a forum for information
and communication among civic officials in Indonesia.
The problems presented by the existence of kampongs within the
cities and the solutions which were proposed came to be known as the
Kampong Question (Kampongvraagstuk). The concept was tripartite
in nature. It included abolition (opheffing) of the kampongs as inter-
nally autonomous entities, the extension of the jurisdiction of the city
councils into the kampongs, and improvement (verbetering) of such
components of the urban infrastructure as roads, sewers, sanitation,
garbage removal and water supply. The question was considered to be
most urgent in the larger cities of Java, such as Semarang, Surabaja,
and Bandung, but the smaller centers of Sukabumi, Malang, Bogor
(Buitenzorg), Tegal, Pekalongan and Madiun on Java also expressed
their desire to abolish the desa autonomy in their midst, as did Makassar
on Sulawesi and Pematang Siantar on the East Coast of Sumatera.3 The
discussions took on a flurry of activity during the few years around 1920,
3
See the report dated 20 September 1922 on governmental reform in the large
cities on Java (De Hervorming van het Bestuur in de Groote Hoofdplaatsen
op Java) by the Assistant Resident of Semarang J. van Gigch, reprinted in
part in Gellius Flieringa, De Zorg voor de Volkshuisvesting in de Stadsgemeen-
ten in Nederlandsch Oost-Indië in het bijzonder in Semarang, Rotterdam and
Amsterdam, 1930, p. 295.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 405

reflecting the problems which had existed with the formation of the
urban municipalities and the creation of civic authority at the beginning
of the century. The issue was less severe around Djakarta mostly because
of the large area covered by private estates (particuliere landerijen),
land which had been alienated to private ownership during the time
of the Dutch East India Company and later, early- in the eighteenth
century, during the rule of Stamford Raffles.4
Perspective on the kampong question can be gained by recognizing
the process of city growth which seemed to be characteristic of the
Western oriented city on Java. Most urban centers began as indigenous
settlements, conglomerations of kampongs, intersected by straight, often
wide, streets which ran in an East-West or North-South direction.5 The
urban core expanded gradually by means of boundary changes and
when these were made to accommodate European interests, it resulted
in the automatic inclusion of indigenous villages within the city juris-
diction. The apparant anomaly of city expansion encompassing villages
which retained their autonomy is explained by the fact that European
urban development took place mostly along the main roads and city
expansion was dictated by the need to extend along the road system.
The result was the surrounding of desas which, in turn, gradually sold
part of their lands into private ownership as the city grew around them.
Eventually all that remained of many desas, especially those near the
center and hence in the oldest sections of the city, was the built-up
parts, that is, only land with buildings on it. With alienation of all but
built-up parcels, the effectiveness of desa autonomy and organization
lapsed and the settlements became converted into kampongs occupying
enclaves often hidden from view.
The extent to which city expansion encompassed villages in some
cities can be gauged by the comment of Th. W. van Kempen concerning
Surabaja in 1927. "There is hardly a piece of land in the whole city
of Surabaja," he wrote, "which does not belong to one or other desa
or kampong. The large city of Surabaja is a collection of kampongs." 6

4
Van Gigch stated that there were in Batavia no indigenous communities
(Inlandsche gemeenten) in the sense of article 71 of the Regeeringsreglement.
See Flieringa, op. cit., pp. 292 and 295.
5
"Toelichting op de 'Stadsvormingordonnantie Stadsgemeenten Java', Batavia,
1938", excerpts translated and printed in The Indonesian Town, The Hague
and Bandung, 1958, pp. 1-77. Reference from p. 35.
6
Th. W. van Kempen, "Over het Kampongvraagstuk in de Groote Indische
Stadsgemeenten," Koloniaal Tijdschrift, 16de jaargang, 1927, pp. 441-453.
Quote from p. 447.
406 JAMES L. COBBAN

Even the Residency house and grounds were located on the domain of
a kampong. The autonomy of the desas did not hinder the founding of
European residential areas with their wide roads and glittering houses.
In fact, desa authority disappeared altogether in certain parts as the
city took over local functions. Much the same can be said of the expan-
sion and growth of Semarang, which about this time included 137
villages within its boundaries.7 The Kampong Question, thus, was
concerned with those parts of cities enclosed by the wide streets of
European residential areas and work places, indigenous enclaves which
made up a substantial area of the cities.
It is pertinent here to remember the diversity of land tenure and
usufruct rights which could be found on Java af ter 1905. Besides the
aforementioned indigenous enclaves (the so-called Government kam-
pongs), and the private estates, a. number of other categories of land
existed. These included land owned by the Government on which no
usufruct rights were granted (Vrij Landsdomein) but which was some-
times given to the urban municipalities for use in the public interest,
for example parks; land owned by the Moslem religious community
(Wakaf-grond), usually of very small extent; Government land on
which the right to erect buildings was granted (opstal), usually on
long-term lease; land owned by the cities which had been given to them
by the Government from land expropriated or purchased from private
estates; parcels of land owned by private individuals; agrarian land;
and another category of Government land over which Indonesians
could exercise rights of usage on individual parcels. Besides these there
were also city kampongs built by the cities on land which they had
in some way acquired.8
Improvement of the kampong infrastructure can be regarded from
a number of points of view. At first, it was chiefly a European concern,
but over the years it received acceptance among the indigenous popu-
lation. The kampong dwellers themselves initially regarded extension
of civic authority into the kampongs as illegal encroachment into village
affairs. After some years, they were prepared to ignore the overlapping
of jurisdictions and became anxious to accept the improvements in
sanitation, road maintenance, water supply and police protection which

T
See map of Semarang showing location of desas and list of desa names in
Flieringa, op. cit., pp. 33-35.
8
Ibid., pp. 30-32. The "Toelichting" in The Indonesian Town, p. 55, mentions
also "unknown lands" whose owners were not known, as well as residence
under adat law on land belonging to another.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 407

improvement promised. In the European community, a number of

attitudes were discernable. One was that of moral indignation over the
squalid living conditions of the indigenous population living within the
cities. Another was expressed in a statement made by the Mayor of
Surabaja that the crux of the kampong question was that of making
their city a healthy place in which to live.9 A third was that of non-
interference, that the indigenous folk had their own independent life
to live and their own particular destiny. The modern student of colo-
nialism regards the kampong question as one more manifestation of
the conflict inherent in colonial society, the results of, in the words
of Albert Demangeon, "Ie contact des deux types de peuples appelés
a s'associer dans une colonie." 10 The urbanist can find in miniature
the very problems and issues presently faced by Southeast Asian and
other Third World cities regarding rural migration, adjustment to
urban life and improvements in overcrowded conditions in squatter
settlements, all of which were present in their essence in the kampongs
of the colonial cities on Java over half a century ago.11
The unhappy fact of kampong improvement throughout the colonial
period was the inability of the kampongs to generate from within them-
selves the capital necessary to finance the physical standards of an
urban habitat foreign to them and for which traditional society had
no precedent.12 The kampong improvers were attempting to extend to
9
Reprinted in an extensive consideration of kampong improvement in Surabaja
published in Locale Belangen, 7de jaargang, 1 and 16 April 1920, pp. 674-684.
Quote from p. 677, "Hoe maken wij de stad onzer inwoning tot een gezonde
woonplaats ?"
10
Albert Demangeon, L'Empire Britannique, Paris, 1923, p. v. In his discussion
of the focus of colonial geography, Demangeon distinguished between the two
peoples, the one being "avance, pourvu de capitaux et de moyens matériels,
en quête de richesses nouvelles, mobile dans 1'espace, ouvert a la notion de
1'entreprise, de Paventure, de 1'inconnu et de 1'exotique" and the other "isolé,
replié sur lui-même, fidele a d'antiques modes de vie, aux horizons bornés,
mal équipé en armes et en outils."
11
General insights into squatter settlements can be found in two works by
Charles Abrams, Squatter Settlements, Washington, 1966 and Man's Struggle
for Shelter, Cambridge, 1964 as well as in Aprodicio A. Laquian, Slums are
for People (The Barrio Magsaysay Pilot Project in Philippine Urban Com-
munity Development), Honolulu, 1971 and Morris Juppenlatz, Cities in
Transformation (The Urban Squatter Problem of the Developing World),
University of Queensland Press, 1970. Further references are contained in
Aprodicio A. Laquian and Penny Dutton, A Selected Bibliography on Rural-
Urban Migrants' Slums and Squatters in Developing Countries, Council of
Planning Librarians, Exchange Bibliography, No. 182, 1971.
12
Modern squatter settlements sometimes do show an ability for self-improve-
ment and community action as demonstrated in the Barrio Magsaysay Pilot
408 JAMES L. COBBAN

the kampongs the same level of urban infrastructure which evolved

in Western Europe, along with its advances in wealth and technology,
and which was subsequently introduced into the European sector of one
of its socially and economically stratified outposts in Southeast Asia.
The financial instability of the kampongs was paralleled by a shortage
of revenue on the part of the various city councils as well as a drive
for economy in its own affairs by the central Government at Djakarta
(Batavia), so that both civic and central administrations experienced
difficulty, with few exceptions, in allotting funds for the purposes of
kampong improvement until the end of the 1920's and even these had
to be severely curtailed within a year or two because of the effects of
the world depression. Even the recommendation of the Kampong Im-
provement Commission (Kamponguerbeteringscommissie) of 1938 that
the costs of improvements be rolled back to those people who would
benefit, could not have succeeded, even if there had been time to
attempt its implementation.13
That money was the main impediment to the successful solution of
the problems was widely recognized very early in the discussions on
kampong improvement. Mr. S. Cohen, while Resident of Surabaja
in 1921, wrote in a report to the Governor-General that the kam-
pong question up to that time had been too academie and that the
so-called kampong question had one easy solution. "A single word,"
he wrote, "conveys the whole solution and that word is MONEY." 14
All that was necessary, he declared, was money, money and still more

Project in the Philippines (Laquian, op. cit.) and described by John F. C.

Turner concerning Peru ("Uncontrolled Urban Settlement: Problems and
Policies", Pittsburg, 1966, reprinted in Gerald Breese, The City in Newly
Developing Countries, Englewood Cliffs, 1969, pp. 507-534). In Surabaja,
shortly after the Pacific War, some 200 kampongs formed a self-help organi-
zation (Rukun Kampong Kota Surabaja) for the improvement of village
infrastructure and the combatting of illiteracy. See The Siauw Giap, "Ur-
banisatieproblemen in Indonesië", Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volken-
kunde, deel 115, 3e aflevering, 1959, pp. 249-276. Reference on p. 270.
13
Eerste Verslag van de Kampongverbeteringscommissie, ingesteld bij het
Gouvemementsbesluit van 25 Mei 1939, No. 30. This report is difficult to
obtain but comments on it are made in F. H. van de Wetering, "Kampong-
verbetering", Koloniale Studiën, 23e jaargang, No. 4, August 1939, pp. 307-
325. Reference on p. 318. Photographs of kampong conditions in the early
years can be found in H. F. Tillema, Van Wonen en Bewonen, van Bouwen,
Huis en Erf, Tjandi-Semarang, 1913 and for a later period in 25 Jaren
Decentralisatie in Nederlandsch-Indië 1905-1930, published by the Vereeniging
voor Locale Belangen, Semarang.
14
Flieringa, op. cit., p. 38. "Een enkel woord reeds brengt de geheele oplossing,
en dat woord is 'GELD'." See also Van Kempen, op. cit., p. 446. •
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 409

money. The Director of the Civil Service (Directeur van Binnenlandsch

Bestuur), L. J. Schippers, wrote in a memo dated 8 September 1921
that with the kampong question they were dealing with many millions
of guilders in initial costs and millions more in yearly expenses. He feit
that these funds could not be granted given the then present state of
the Dutch East Indian finances. Again, in 1924, in a note dated 27
March, the Governor-General stated that it was desirable to come to
a conclusion of the kampong question after all that had been said over
the course of the preceding few years. However, the greatest difficulty
was the pitiful condition of the country's finances and he reiterated that
the solution of the problein must not cost the Government any money.15
Crowded conditions sufficient to cause breakdown of village infra-
structure, authority and organization probably had not occurred on
Java before the modernizing influence of the Dutch in the nineteenth
century made itself feit. Traditionally, villages avoided overcrowding
by a process of hiving in which daughter villages were established some
distance from the parent settlement. The harbour cities of the pre-
European and early European centuries may have been densely popu-
lated relative to rural settlements. One might question, however, whether
there existed a floating population of migrants from the Javanese
countryside similar to the inhabitants of the urban kampongs in the
twentieth century.
Housing improvement remained outside the sphere of kampong im-
provement largely because it was related to the control of contagious
diseases, notably bubonic plague. Housing came under the authority of
the city councils by means of the power transferred to them by the
Government in the Acts of Incorporation and overlapped to some extent
the goals claimed for kampong improvement. Since plans for kampong
improvement were not yet fixed, up-grading of houses was not con-
sidered feasible, partially because of cost and partially because there
was no guarantee that improved houses would not be moved or
destroyed to make way for improvements in roads or drains as different
authorities exercised their jurisdiction in an uncoordinated ad hoc
manner. Since the design of the indigenous houses in the kampongs
unwittingly provided nesting places for rats, it was proposed by the
civic authorities in Semarang and Djakarta to redesign the houses so
as to remove nesting places and rebuild them at the expense of the
owners. Djakarta even sponsored a public competition to this end and

15
Flieringa, op. cit., p. 41.
410 JAMES L. COBBAN

Semarang considered the same. Kampong dwellers were unable to pay

the costs of improvements in housing, so that in Semarang the city
council contented itself with regular inspection, usually weekly, to see
that houses were kept clean and that nests did not remain.
Improvement of kampongs and desas on the private estates also was
not considered as part of the kampong question. The desas lying within
the estates were not recognized by the Inlandsche Gemeente-ordonnantie
of 1906 {Staatsblad No. 83) and before kampong improvement could
be undertaken on them, the estates would have to be purchased by the
Government, a course of action begun in 1906. At the time the kam-
pong question was being discussed, the relations between the Govern-
ment and the estate owners in Western Java and between these owners
and the inhabitants of their estates were regulated by legislation in
1902, with subsequent modifications. This legislation made the mainte-
nance of roads and bridges the responsibility of the estate owners.18
The relationship between estate owners and their inhabitants in Central
and Eastern Java, and hence Semarang, was regulated by Government
ordinances of 1880, 1886, and 1913. Private estates existed within the
boundaries of the cities and sometimes were extensive. In Semarang,
just under one third of the territory included within the city boundary
was made up of such estates, covering some 3250 hectares of the total
10,000 hectares of the city area. These estates, owned mostly by Chinese,
were twenty-two in number and produced mostly rice and vegetables.17
The authority to abolish the kampong organization within the cities
rested with the Governor-General. It was necessary to alter or remove
article 71 of the Regeeringsreglement, the clause which guaranteed the
autonomy in their internal affairs of the desas and kampongs of Java
outside the private estates. A change in the Constitution was made in
1918 and a decree qualifying article 71 appeared as number 482 in the
Indisch Staatsblad of 23 February. It allowed the abolition of those
kampongs lying wholly or partially within the boundaries of a city in
which a city council had been established.18 Actually, the abolition

16
"Nieuw Reglement omtrent de Particuliere Landerijen, gelegen ten Westen
der rivier Tji Manoek", vastgesteld bij ordonnantie van 3 Augustus 1922,
referred to in Flieringa, op. cit., p. 17.
17
See maps facing p. 190, tables pp. 192-193, descriptive text pp. 194-195 in
Flieringa, op. cit., and pp. 16-20.
18
"die geheel of gedeeltelijk zijn binnen de grenzen van eene stad, waarvoor
een raad . . . is ingesteld." Reprinted in Flieringa, op. cit., p. 287. In the
Indische Staatsregeling of 1925, article 71 became article 128, paragraph 6,
containing the wording allowing abolition. By 1938, this paragraph had seldom
 UNCÓNTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 411

aspect of kampong improvement became part of the greater concern

for administrative reform in the large cities. Though abolition could
be achieved from a legal standpoint by a simple act of law, improve-
ment of living conditions and village infrastructure would be more
difficult. The problems were never completely solved and the issue
smoldered for some twenty-five years until the outbreak of the Pacific
War, though some progress could be claimed for the last few years
of the colonial era.
In the Act of Incorporation (Instellingordonnantie) of the respective
cities, the position of the kampongs within the city boundaries had not
been specifically mentioned and their autonomy had been accepted on
the basis of the general guarantees contained in the Constitution. The
question whether authority over the desa should be transferred to the
local councils (locale raden), of which the city councils (gemeente-
raden) were one, had been debated in the Netherlands Parliament
between 1901 and 1903 during the discussions of the decentralization
legislation which led up to the creation of the urban municipalities.
The decision at that time was to keep authority over the desas and
kampongs in the hands of the Government in Djakarta.19 However, the
vagueness of the wording in the Acts of Incorporation prompted the
Mayors of Semarang and Surabaja some years later to challenge the
autonomous rights of the city kampongs and their exclusion from the
jurisdiction of the city councils in an attempt to proceed with changes
in the kampong infrastructure independent of Government approval.

The First Initiatives

The Government's early concern for kampong improvement focused
on five years around 1920, reaching its peak in September of 1922
with the publication of a report by the Assistant Resident of Semarang,
J. van Gigch. He had been examining administrative reform in the large
cities of Java and included the kampong question in his enquiry because
of the implications which abolition had for the governance of the desa
populations. The earliest mention of kampong improvement in the cities
came at the time of the creation of the urban municipalities, when the

been invoked: in Malang during 1927, 1930 and 1938 (ƒ.5. numbers 181,
372 and 351 in the respective years), and in Surabaja during 1930 (I.S.
number 373).
19
Lucien Adam, De Autonomie van het Indonesische Dorp, Amersfoort, 1924,
p. 112, quoted in Flieringa, op. cit., p. 36.
412 JAMES L. COBBAN

condition of the kampong roads of Djakarta had been a matter of

concern to the Minister of Colonies. He asked the Governor-General
if it would be possible for the Government to grant a subsidy to the
city to allow improvement of the roads in the kampongs within city
boundaries. However, this early attention to the question was pushed
into the background by the larger question of increasing the Government
financial subsidies to the urban municipalities. But the existence of the
independent enclaves within the cities was not forgotten and, in 1914,
the Governor-General himself questioned whether there might be a way
in which the autonomy of the desas lying within city boundaries could
be ended, saying that he would offer no objections to changing article 71
of the Constitution.
About this same time, other members of the colonial government
hierarchy began to examine kampong abolition. The Advisor for Decen-
tralization began an enquiry into abolition in consultation with the
Assistant Residents of Semarang and Surabaja, then chairmen of their
respective city councils, the office of Mayor not yet having been in-
stituted. A Commission consisting of the Controleur and two members
of the Native Civil Service was set up to consider abolition of the desas
in Semarang and it came to the conclusion that abolition was urgent
and practical and recommended that it be undertaken rapidly. The
Director of the Civil Service also became interested, but he thought
that a change in the Regeeringsreglement was not necessary, that the
cities could extend their jurisdiction into the kampongs without abolition
taking place. Even the Indies Council {Raad van Indië) agreed that
in the long run an end must come to the autonomy of the desas in the
cities and was not against changing article 71 to allow this. In 1915,
the Minister of Colonies became convinced of the desirability of aboli-
tion, at least in those cities in which procedures had been introduced
for the election of non-Europeans to the city councils, and thought that
an end to desa autonomy should be made as soon as possible. The
matter went as far as the Netherlands Parliament (Staten-Generaal)
when, in 1915, the Vereeniging voor Locale Belangen addressed a
petition to the First Chamber and the matter was subject to intermittent
discussion during the following years.20
In 1917, the Government formally indicated its interest regarding
kampong improvement in a letter dated 30 May, which was sent to
the city councils of Semarang and Surabaja. 21 The letter notified that
20
Recounted in the report of J. van Gigch in Flieringa, op. cit., pp. 287-291.
2X
Locale Belangen, 6de jaargang, 1 March 1919, p. 563.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 413

revision of article 71 of the Dutch East Indian Constitution was under

consideration and advised that, if changes were effected, the munici-
palities would be responsible for extending their jurisdiction over those
matters granted them by their Act of Incorporation to the kampong
areas within the city boundaries. The letter expressed the Government's
expectation that improvements would be incorporated as part of the
general upkeep of Semarang and Surabaja and not be considered as
a separate undertaking, and that fundamental improvements would be
made automatically and rather quickly, soon after the inclusion of the
former villages within the jurisdiction of the city councils. The central
issue of finance was reflected in the closing lines of the letter. Whereas
the Government would be agreeable to setting aside some money in its
budget of 1918 to help with initial costs, it did not intend to bear the
complete expense of improvement programs, such programs being the
responsibility of the civic authorities. While such a Government position
would be expected in an action which was enlarging the jurisdiction
of the city councils, it reflected also the low revenues which plagued
the colonial government and was an indication of the deterrent role
which finances would play in improvement.
Some two years later, in 1920, after the necessary changes in the
Constitution had been made, the Government wrote to the Residents
of the Preanger, Semarang and Surabaja suggesting that they set up
commissions to advise the respective city councils of all matters which
might pertain should the changes now allowed by the Constitution be
invoked within the capitals of each Residency.22 By then abolition had
been accepted in principle and it would be the duty of the commissions
to consider the ways in which abolition might be undertaken, the order
in which it should come about, and to determine if new civic machinery
might be necessary to administer the settlements after they had come
under the authority of the city council. Circumstances which might
hinder the abolition of a particular community were to be examined,
as well as financial aspects. An estimate was to be made of the money
needed to maintain the infrastructure of each settlement in its existing
condition for the first year and of the sums which would be necessary
to make urgent improvements in subsequent years. Members of the
committees were drawn primarily from among Government officials.

22
Ibid., 8ste jaargang, 16 December 1920, pp. 378-395. Also reprinted in
Flieringa, op. cit., pp. 261-272.
414 JAMES L. COBBAN

The only Indonesian member would be the district head of the Native
Civil Service in whose jurisdiction the kampong lay. Curiously, there
was no suggestion that any member of the village administrations be
included as members of the commissions. Surabaja did not accept the
Government's suggestion, but Semarang responded enthusiastically. It
is because Semarang was the only large city to file a report that the
discussion of the question turns primarily to that city.

Problems of Abolition: The Example of Semarang

The report of the Semarang Commission, dated 18 October 1920,
appeared a year and a half later and strongly favoured abolition of
those kampongs lying well within the boundaries of the city because
in those communities breakdown of traditional village unity {desa-
verband) was especially marked.23 This recommendation did not apply
to the outlying desas, only recently included within the city because of
the boundary changes of 1919 and 1920. These villages still possessed
most of their rural character. In them the feeling of village unity was
strong, traditional services were still performed, the villages still owned
large tracts of land, and internal affairs continued to be regulated by
communal discussion. The report posed the question whether Semarang
should extend its municipal services to these desas anyway, to prevent
their deterioration to the squalid conditions so often characteristic of
the city kampongs. The commission did not consult with the desa
inhabitants concerning abolition even though it recognized the fairness
of doing so, as did the Mayor and the Resident of Semarang. It pre-
ferred to wait until specifically requested to do so by the Government.24
Not surprisingly, the most formidable problem which the report
foresaw was that of finance. The desa as a self-contained entity tradi-
tionally had supplied labour for public works at no cost to the village
government. In many of the city kampongs, these services for the most
part had been commuted into a money tax so that work was done by
paid labour with an accompanying lowering of work standards. The city
council would not be able to command traditional services where they
still existed after abolition so that maintenance and landscaping of
roads, care of bridges and dikes, cleaning of gutters, spraying of streets,
removal of refuse, and street lighting would have to be paid for in cash.

23
Ibid., 8ste jaargang, 16 December 1920, pp. 378-395. Also reprinted in
Flieringa, op. cit., pp. 261-272.
24
Ibid., p. 307.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT • 415

Payment meant that the Government or the city would have to institute
a tax to raise funds for the purpose. Raising money by taxes was seldom
successful in pre-war Java because of the general level of poverty which
existed among the indigenous population. The committee found that
improvement of kampong roads would constitute a major expense.
Roads were generally in bad repair and more than mere upkeep would
be necessary before they could be considered satisfactory. The com-
missioners probably feit that the financial aspects of their report were
only preliminary for they indicated that a lengthy study would be
necessary to estimate the total cost of kampong improvements. Not only
would such a job be time-consuming, it would also require more people
for its accomplishment than the city had at its disposal.
The report also pointed out that the Semarang city council would
be unable to assume all of the authority formerly vested in the village
administration. The collection of Government revenue, such as land
rent, head tax, business tax, and the tax on the slaughtering of animals
would remain outside the authority of the council. Traditional police
duties exercised by the headman (desahoofd) would become the respon-
sibility of the Resident, under whose authority all police functions, even
those of the cities, were vested. In Semarang, the transference of the
police authority would not pose a practical problem. The breakdown
of the village organization in the city kampongs had been so severe that
the police function had already vanished and much of the maintenance
of peace and order was being done by the police of Semarang. In 1918,
the night watch had been abolished within the old boundaries of the
city. Traditional security precautions were still performed in the newly
incorporated desas on the outskirts of Semarang but even these villages
had requested that they be relieved of their police duties. Extension of
police services to the outlying desas would pose a problem to Semarang
because it would entail expenditure for the recruitment of more men.
The committee also considered a number of minor village functions.
The religious life of the inhabitants, for example, would fall outside the
authority of the city council. The report recommended that village
mosques, where such existed, be put under the authority of the great
mosque in Semarang and village priests under the authority of religious
officials in the city. Land associated with such mosques could be
classified as religious provided it accrued to the city against compen-
sation should it be needed in the public interest. What few village
schools there were would remain outside the control of the city council.
However, village markets and cemeteries could be transferred to muni-
 416 JAMES L. COBBAN

cipal control. Whatever money the desa might possess could be given
over and used for improvements.
Disposal of village land would be more complicated. Abolition of the
desa would obviate the need for village officials and therefore render
unnecessary the village lands (ambtsvelden) used to remunerate them.
One suggestion for the disposal of such land where it still existed was
to allow former village officials with long service a life tenancy of their
erstwhile fields. Alternatively, the commissioners thought it more
advisable for the city to assume the land directly and pay the former
officials an annuity until their death. They suggested that parts of the
ambtsvelden which the city would not want, could be parcelled out and
sold, first to members of the village and then to inhabitants of Semarang.
Disposal of village communal land presented different problems. Usually
such land was burdened with shareholders' rights. The report recom-
mended that such land be converted into private property and distributed
by the village members themselves before abolition took place.
There were psychological implications involved in dismantling village
organization and bringing village populations under the jurisdiction of
the larger civic administration. These were recognized by the Mayor
of Semarang, D. de Jongh, and recorded in a proposal to the city council
dated 22 November 1920, some few weeks after the appearance of the
Commission's Report. 25 He noted that the residents of the kampongs
were mostly Indonesians, Chinese and other Asians whose interests were
much more different than those of the city council which, though it had
Indonesian representation, was predominantly European in outlook.
Normally, the city council came into little daily contact with the
indigenous population. lts attention was concentrated on the European
affairs of the city. With abolition, the civic authorities would be brought
into much closer contact with the kampong folk and it would be
desirable that the authorities gain the same psychological acceptance
by the inhabitants which formerly they had accorded the village ad-
ministration as their trusted form of government. Previously, the
occasional forays of the city council into the kampong had been
regarded as interference in village affairs. The relationship between
the city authorities and the villages was distant and impersonal. The
goals of the city council were often futuristic and intangible as far as
the villagers were concerned. The Mayor thought that by expanding

25
Ibid., 8ste jaargang, 16 December 1920, pp. 363-378. Reprinted in Flieringa,
op. cit., pp. 277-285.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 417

its activities and providing for the more tangible needs of the kampong
dwellers, the city council might be able to improve its relationship with
the mass of people and fill the void in their governance which would
occur with the abolition of the kampongs. This would be a new and
perhaps not an easy task for the Semarang city council, which had had
little experience in dealing with the native population directly and
en masse.
The size and shape of Semarang suggested that the distance between
the outlying desas and the city hall would add to the sense of estrange-
ment. By 1920, Semarang covered an area of 100 square kilometers
(about 36 square miles). The longest diagonal distance was 15 kilo-
meters (about 10 miles) and the distance from the outermost desas
to the city hall was between six and ten kilometers (from 4 to 6 miles).
If the city hall were to replace the village administration, a person on
foot or on a bicycle would have a long way to go to air a simple
complaint. Because of this, the psychological distance between the city
administration and the kampong dwellers would probably become
greater rather than improve and the life of the inhabitants was likely
to be made more difficult. Concentration of city functions in one
building would have its disadvantages for the city as well. Government
departments easily could become encumbered with petty grievances and
petitions which would be time-consuming to solve. Individual matters,
in themselves insignificant, considered together could become oppressive.
The Mayor also foresaw problems with the desas lying immediately
beyond the city boundaries. He was concerned with the possibility that
undesirable conditions, which in the city would be subject to stringent
regulations, could thrive uncontrolled immediately across the city boun-
dary. He thought there should be some unifying principle of government
which would prevent the juxtaposition of such disparate activity and
he favored a broad ring of suburbs surrounding the city which could
be prepared gradually for incorporation within city boundaries so that
if abolition of any of these villages were to be undertaken in the future,
the municipal authority and services would be able immediately to fill
the void created by the dissolution of the desabestuur and allow smooth
functioning of the settlement. He proposed that civic authority be
extended beyond the boundaries of the city and that land speculators
be controlled, since expropriation against compensation was the means
by which Semarang expanded and obtained land for its housing projects.
Two additional problems, noted by the Mayor, were liable to arise
with kampong abolition. One was the matter of communication as it
418 JAMES L. COBBAN

concerned the dissemination of government ordinances and decrees.

Literacy of the masses could not be assumed as it could among the
European members of the city. The kampong dwellers were not liable
to be familiar with any law other than that of custom (adat). They
probably would not be able to read decrees which the Government or
the city council would enact from time to time. Hence a way would
have to be found to enable governance by verbal communication and
in 1918 such a means did not exist in Semarang. Another problem liable
to be encountered would be that of political apathy. Economie growth
had been encouraged in the city, at the expense of its social and political
life, in accordance with the goals of the European elite. Most of the
kampong dwellers displayed little interest in politics. They did not see
the city council as being representative of diem. Hence the majority
were apathetic even about election to the city council of its Indonesian
members. The Act of Incorporation of the Urban Municipality of
Semarang had allowed five Indonesians to sit on the city council, com-
pared to fifteen Europeans and three representatives of other Asians.26
Apathy was not a matter of much importance so long as the city council
had little to do with the kampongs. However, after abolition, the city
council would have jurisdiction over kampong affairs and apathy would
mean the giving up of potential influence on the city council in matters
which might concern them, even though the Europeans would always
have a majority.
A sense of urgency hung over the kampong question in Semarang
by the beginning of the 1920's. The feeling was directed more toward
the city kampongs, where breakdown of the village life was great
because of the proximity to the European parts of the city and the
reorientation of occupations which such nearness allowed.27 The sense
of urgency was less strong in the outlying desas because of the strength
28
Indisch Staatsblad, 1906, No. 120.
27 "j"he breakdown of authority in the city kampongs occurred also in Surabaja
and doubtless in other urban municipalities as well. The retiring Resident
Hillen of Surabaja in his Memorie van Overgave dated 4 July 1924 for the
period of June 1922 to July 1924 reported: "Dat de desa ter hoofdplaats
Soerabaja gedesorganiseerd is, en de desa hoofden daar geen invloed meer
hebben, behoeft geen betoog." The report of Van Gigch mentions the hetero-
geneous composition of the population of the desas in Semarang in 1920,
which for the large part came from elsewhere. Flieringa, op. cit., p. 274.
H. J. Heeren, in a study of urbanization in Djakarta in 1956, showed immi-
gration continuing after the war in certain kampongs of Djakarta. H. J. Heeren
(ed.) "The Urbanization of Djakarta", Ekonomi Dan Keuangarv Indonesia,
Tahun Ke VIII, No. 11, Nopember 1955, pp. 696-736, see particularly
table 14, p. 730.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 419

of their village organization. In these latter settlements, the future

demands on the municipal services were not liable to be stringent
bécause the outlying villages were spacious and less crowded than the
city kampongs. Street lighting could be less strong, street cleaning sim-
pler, and roads would need fewer repairs. However, both types of
settlements had a large floating population of recent migrants from
the countryside and these people had no relation whatever to the villages
in which they settled. The control of the village headman over new-
comers was weak and probably lessened as their numbers increased
with each additional influx.

Solutions Proposed for Semarang

To solve the problems of psychological estrangement and communi-
cation which he foresaw, the Mayor proposed the creation of additional
branches of the city administration which might enable regular com-
munications with the people. He envisaged a part of the civil admini-
stration which could be substituted in the minds of the people for the
familiar organs of village government and be regarded as their own.
He hoped that the people would turn with confidence to these new
organs, to express their wants and for a verbal presentation of the
various regulations of the city council and the Government. He sug-
gested the kampong areas be set up as wards {wijken), each having its
own administration and headed by a wardmaster (wijkmeester), who
would have his own personnel, committee of advisors and an office in
the ward itself. Such a reorganizatión would continue, in effect, the
old form of village government under a new name. The aim was to
bring about a reorganizatión in which the change in authority would
be imperceptible to the inhabitants. The whole ward structure could
be coordinated by a new branch of the city government to be created
to oversee affairs in the former kampongs.
The wardmaster, by living in the ward and by means of monthly
meetings with his committee and other village authorities, could remain
in close contact with the people. The police and tax functions of govern-
ment would not be part of his duties. Hence he would be spared some
of the unpleasant functions of government and be in a good position to
gain the confidence and trust of the people. His qualifications would
be those of a low-ranking official of the Native Civil Service. His office
would be in the former kampong so that people could talk to him with
no inconvenience to themselves. At the ward office routine concerns of
the people could be handled. These would include enquiries of all sorts,
 420 JAMES L. COBBAN

the writing of complaints, applications for building permits and store

licences which could then be forwarded to the city hall for approval.
The ward office could be the point of dissemination for information
on and propaganda for matters of general interest, such as public health.
The Mayor proposed that the ward committee have only an advisory
function. Though at first its members would be appointed by the city
council, if the system was shown to work, members could be elected
by the ward inhabitants from among themselves. The committee would
bear the same relation to the wardmaster as the village government did
to the Assistant-Wedono. The duties of the committee members would
keep the wardmaster informed of the temper of the people. They would
be responsible for knowing the problems and wishes of the people and
would explain to them Government and civic ordinances. All discussions
would be carried out in the indigenous language.
The new ward government, in the opinion of the Mayor, should be
established before abolition took place, so that members of the ward
administration could consult with desa officials and perhaps with the
people themselves. In the outlying desas the Mayor suggested that
the old village government be retained and be made a civic organization
so that the wardmaster could gain support from them. In the city
kampongs, he proposed that the committee members be chosen when
possible from the old functionaries to ensure a measure of continuity
in governance and to form a bridge to extend across the psychological
gaps which abolition was expected to create. In keeping with the
sanguine outlook on financial matters which pervaded all levels of the
Indies administration, the Mayor was hopeful that some money could
be found to give to the ward administration so that in small matters it
could have a degree of independence.
The new branch of the city government, the Gemeentelijke Bestuurs-
dienst, would assume responsibility for some of the duties of the former
village authorities, particularly in the city kampongs. It would maintain
the population register, the postal service, the tax service, and be
responsible for public health and housing inspection. It could execute
some minor police duties which would require little in the way of
professional training. It might enforce such city by-laws as those
regulating building licences, slaughtering of animals, the selling of milk,
the baking of bread and the sale of alcoholic beverages, as well as
cleanliness and general order.
In outlying desas, the new department might act at first only in a
supervisory capacity for the wardmaster in the matter of public works.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 421

Inspection and maintenance of footpaths and roads on which there

was little vehicular traffic would not require much technical skill and
could be supervised by the wardmaster himself. As the Mayor pointed
out, there were some 158 kilometers (about 100 miles) of such roads
and paths in Semarang and their maintenance would place too much
of a burden on the Department of Public Works. Similarly, inspection
of temporary houses and rubbish collection in the outlying desas could
be supervised by the wardmaster with the approval of the Housing
Inspection and the Sanitation Service. The departments of the city
government, assuming these proposals were followed, might slowly
assume dual characters, in that a body of technically trained experts
might work inside the city with the assistance of mechanized equipment
and another body of untrained men might work in the outlying villages.

The Fate of Kampong Improvement

Despite the favorable response of Semarang, the problems of kampong
abolition or improvement in the city were far from settled. By 1920,
the issue of the indigenous enclaves within the city boundaries was
recognized. The Government had initiated enquiries for incorporation
of the kampongs into the city and placing them under the jurisdiction
of the city council. Legislation had been passed allowing those parts of
indigenous settlement falling within city boundaries to be abolished and
the constitutional guarantee of control over their internal affairs with-
drawn. Semarang had investigatéd the problems and their solutions and
had examined the relations between the city authorities and the kam-
pong inhabitants. Improvement of kampong conditions seemed at hand.
However, recognition of the issues and goodwill on the part of the Go-
vernment and civic authorities was not sufficient to ensure the inception
of programs and their success. Mostly because of lack of money, many
of the projects foundered, not only in Semarang but also in the other
urban municipalities of Java where kampong improvement was an issue.
The first disappointment for Semarang came after the Mayor reported
to the Director of the Civil Service {Directeur van het Binnenlandsch
Bestuur) the findings of the commission established in 1920 at Govern-
ment request. The Director replied that further discussions concerning
Semarang would have to wak until the Government itself had established
general principles concerning abolition which could be utilized by any
city on Java. 28 The Government was waiting for the final report of the

28
Locale Belangen, 10de jaargang, 1922-1923, 1 February 1923, p. 455.
422 JAMES L. COBBAN

Assistant Resident of Semarang, J. van Gigch, who was examining

the commission reports prepared by various cities in the course of his
enquiry into governmental reorganization in the large urban municipa-
lities. In 1922, he submitted his report, dated 20 September, to the
Government and copies of it were sent to the city councils. Consequently,
on the 5th of December 1922, the Mayor of Semarang wrote to the
Governor-General enquiring if discussions of the kampong question
might be continued once more. Two years later, by April 1924, the
Mayor had received no reply and as evidence of his concern had under-
taken discussions himself with the Resident of Semarang but, in 1925,
before anything could transpire, the Resident died and it was necessary
to postpone any action until his successor had been appointed.29
During this time, the members of the city council had become im-
patient and determined to solve the problems of kampong improvement
in Semarang themselves. As a result of their meeting of 19 July 1922,
the members requested of the Governor-General control over roads and
public works in the city kampongs. In reply they were told once more
to wait for the conclusion of then current discussions on the subject.
They were also told that drains and sewers in the kampongs had always
been within the jurisdiction of the city, that improvement of such
conditons was not absolutely necessary, and that there would be no
Government money forthcoming for improvement purposes. The ration-
ale for this curious and contradictory reply was, in effect, that kampong
inhabitants had lived in unimproved .conditions for a long time and
hence could survive a while longer. It doubtless reflected the financial
straits in which the Government found itself and was compatible with
the economy drive which it was pursuing. By way of rebuttal, the
Mayor of Semarang pointed out that the unhygienic conditions which
prevailed in many of the crowded indigenous settlements on Java were
accompanied by high mortality rates. Yet when kampong dwellers •
sought amelioration, rather than receiving tangible improvements, they
were merely referred to arguments between city and Government
administrations.
The Mayor despaired of Government help and decided, rather than
passively observe the conditions which existed in Semarang, that the
city must assume responsibility for improvements. He proposed that in
its budget deliberations for 1924 the city council allocate funds for

29
Ibid., 11de jaargang, 1923-1924, 1 April 1924, p. 557.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 423

improvement and that work begin on the most urgent projects to the
extent which funds would allow. The proposal was praiseworthy but,
as one member of the council pointed out, Semarang also was in finan-
cial straks.30 The shortage of funds brought with it the danger of
patchwork improvements. There was no guarantee that an endeavor
begun one year might not have to be discontinued, incomplete, the
following year. Since there was no overall plan for kampong improve-
ment, there would be no guarantee that a project completed one year
might not be rendered useless subsequently in the course of further
improvements undertaken by a different department. For example,
drains repaired one year might be torn up in the execution of road
improvements. In this, the city council rejected the sector approach
towards improvement of the urban infrastructure in favor of an overall
regional plan. 31
Even if the city could provide some funds, the allocation of scarce
financial resources would pose difficulties and probably cause unrest
among the populations of the different kampongs. Whatever sum the
council might arbitrarily set aside was bound to be insufficient for the
completion of all projects and the question of priorities would arise.
Small improvements made in all kampongs would hardly be impressive
or make much change. Alternatively, particular kampongs could be
singled out and attempts made to ameliorate conditions limited to them.
But whatever decision was made, there was certain to be an outcry
from the inhabitants of the unimproved settlements, since inhabitants
of all kampongs would be contributing taxes to the city government.
Some years later, in 1927, a meeting was held in which the inhabitants
themselves were enjoined to take an active part in kampong improve-
ment since they were the people who would benefit. The Semarang
branch of Budi Utomo, a political organization for the Javanese, Sunda-
nese and Madurese, officially recognized on 28 December 1909, called
a public gathering in the city park to discuss the kampong question.32
A number of speakers addressed an audience estimated at six hundred
people and reminded them of the length of time (by then some twenty
30
Ibid,, 10de jaargang, 1922-1923, 1 February 1923, p. 455.
31
Rejection of the sector approach in the improvement of the urban infra-
structure was found to be widespread among planning officials in Third World
cities at the present time in a survey conducted by the Agency for Interna-
tional Development and published in a draft of Focus on Urban Development:
Perceptions, Approaches, and Needs prepared by the Bureau for Technical
Assistance, Urban Development Staff, Agency for International Development,
April 1972.
32
Locale Belangen, 14de jaargang, 16 May 1927, p. 349.
424 JAMES L. COBBAN

years) during which the kampong question had been left dangling.
Speeches gave a picture of the conditions in the kampongs as they
existed in the late 1920's. Living conditions were likened to those in
a slum or back street. The theoretical position of the kampong as a
legal person, free to exercise autonomous authority in its own affairs
and having the right to elect its own government, was stated to be in
great contrast with the actual facts, which showed that kampong
authority for the most part had disappeared. One speaker described
the village headman as little more than a Government bill-collector, no
longer in control of the police or the kampong roads. The villages
possessed no land and the boundaries between them and the city could
no longer be distinguished. Voluntary services had been commuted
mostly into taxes and were no longer sufficient for the maintenance
of public works. Indeed, by 1927, the kampongs seemed little changed
from a decade earlier and not much of their traditional character
remained. Immigration of Indonesians from the countryside made kam-
pong management increasingly difficult. Migrants were not subject to
the customary obligations and taxes, as were the original villagers, yet
they demanded village services. A motion, tangible evidence that
kampong improvement was no longer exclusively a European concern,
was passed approving transference of authority within the kampongs
to the city council. The politicians promised widespread circulation of
it to all levels of the colonial Government.

The Introduction of Kampong Improvement Throughout Java

The year 1927 became important in the move for improvement of
kampong infrastructure not only because of the positive expression on
the part of the inhabitants but also because the Government initiated
some procedures which could be applied throughout Java and which
eventually resulted in some success. After a decade of apparent in-
activity, the Government once more took the initiative. It affirmed its
old stand that kampong improvement was primarily the responsibility
of civic authorities. However, it changed its position regarding funding,
and while it reiterated that improvements should not become a financial
burden to the State, it affirmed its readiness to contribute to the
defrayment of initial costs under certain conditions. In a letter dated
10 May 1927, it proposed payment of a lump sum equal to half the
expenses required to provide for initial improvements.33 These would
33
Ibid., 14de jaargang, 16 November 1927, p. 923. Reprinted in Flieringa,
op. cit., pp. 43-45.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 425

include repair of such components of the urban infrastructure as roads,

gutters, bridges, dikes, as well as new construction to bring about actual
improvement such as paving of roads, construction of brick drains,
erection of public bathing and washing places and lavatories and the
introduction of street lighting. Where the need for improvement was
urgent and the city council involved had no funds, the Government
declared that it would pay all the initial expenses. Annual maintenance
of improved kampong works, however, would still be the responsibility
of the city councils.
In 1927, the Government also undertook a financial study to deter-
mine what the costs of improvement might be. Up to that >car, no
estimates had been made as to the expense of widening and paving
kampong roads to enable them to carry heavily loaded vehicles. Nor
had the costs of improvement of secondary roads and footpaths been
estimated. The study was an initial attempt, but the need for more
estimates of costs was clearly necessary, as was the need for an overall
plan which would coordinate improvements in an orderly fashion. For
this purpose, a meeting of the Mayors and heads of the Public Works
Department was organized and took place early in January 1928.34
Besides accomplishing the very important task of forming a compre-
hensive plan for kampong improvement in all the cities of Java, the
meeting agreed that improvement could proceed without the need to
abolish the kampongs as legal entities.
Nonetheless, improvements were slow in coming. Between 1927 and
1934, Government funds were made available to cover fifty percent of
the total estimated costs of improvements in.kampongs in various cities.
Between these years some 1,256,769 guilders were paid from the General
Treasury to the cities. Most of this sum was paid between 1929 and 1931.
After that year, because of the world depression, Government funds were
withdrawn. Only a few cities were able to continue the work of kampong
improvement and in most of them it came to a complete standstill. Ces-
sation of work was regrettable since maps and plans which had been
painstakingly prepared were set aside and not kept up, which meant
that they would be out of date should the projects be taken up again.
Towards the end of the 1930's, interest in improvement revived once
more. The Government proposed a new law which would allow a
subsidy of some 500,000 guilders annually to the cities for the purpose
of improvements. A Kampong Improvement Commission, composed of

34
Van de Wetering, op. cit., p. 309.
426 JAMES L. COBBAN

four men, was established to advise on the use of this sum. The com-
mission recommended what expenditures should be made for 1938 and
1939 and issued a report which included details of kampong conditions
in all the cities of Java. 35 The improvements in the kampong infra-
structure which the commission recommended were somewhat more
encompassing than those considered twenty years previously. The con-
cept expanded from the familiar one of roads, footpaths and sidewalks
to include construction of sport fields, children's playgrounds, parks,
landscaping and in some cases the purchase of land for washing places
and public lavatories. Improvement funds were not to be spent on
drainage, housing, malaria control, street lighting or the care of ceme-
teries, all of which were declared to be the direct responsibility of the
civic authority. The commission estimated that it would take ten years
to complete the work outlined in its report.
In spite of the inability of all cities to find funds to share the costs,
some progress had been made during the decade of the 1930's. Before
1938, a total of 1,917 hectares in the city kampongs of Java had been
improved for a sum of 3,117,000 guilders. This was only one quarter
of the kampong area for which improvement plans had been prepared.
In 1939, some 4,700 hectares remained to be improved at an estimated
cost of 8,000,000 guilders. Most of this area (3,500 hectares) was
considered to be in need of urgent improvement. What had been accom-
plished and planned was regarded as remedial of past conditions. With
further expansion of the cities and the inclusion of more kampongs,
the area needing attention would increase, as would the need for money.
In spite of these improvements, the problems were far from solved. The
Government report on Town Planning published in 1938 stated that
". . . it is clear that the authorities do not have the kampong problems
under control." 36 Improvements could not keep up with congestion and
the increasing number of people who came to live within the city and
who took up residence in the kampongs.

Conclusion
Examination of the kampong question in Semarang illustrates one of
the characteristics of the colonial city on Java during the first half
of the twentieth century. It shows that many of the problems now
associated with uncontrolled urban settlements are not new and were
35
Eerste Verslag van de Kampongverbeteringscommissie, ingesteld bij het Gouver-
nementsbesluit van 25 Mei 1938, No. 30.
36
The Indonesian Town, p. 20. T h e kampong question as it existed about 1938
is discussed on pp. 18-21.
 UNCONTROLLED URBAN SETTLEMENT 427

present in essence over half a century ago. Lack of money was the
most important factor affecting adoption of kampong improvement and
is probably the greatest impediment affecting change in crowded urban
enclaves today. The kampong folks' inability for self help is not always
paralleled at the present time, as reports from some countries show,
but ad hoc uncoordinated efforts were as shunned then as now and
rejected in favour of overall comprehensive plans. Overlapping of juris-
dictions at different levels of government was a threat to improvement
efforts but was overcome during colonial times in a way easier than is
now possible in most countries. The conflict of values and breakdown of
traditionalism which was a characteristic fifty years ago still occurs but the
emphasis now is more on rural and urban life under a national govern-
ment and less on the juxtaposition of European and Indonesian societies.
There are, of course, contrasts between the two types of settlements.
The most notable difference is probably that the magnitude of the
present problems is much greater than anything previously encountered.
The number of people affected is larger today but there are fewer restric-
tions preventing people from partaking in the social and economie life
of the modern city compared to the limited opportunities in the class
conscious colonial city. Certainly the potential for political influence
in most cities is much greater with the modern squatter than it was
with the token representation of kampong folk on the city councils fifty
years ago. Furthermore, the colonial government in Indonesia was
dealing with what began as functioning village entities with full legal
title to their land, in contrast to most countries today, where new
settlements spring up sometimes overnight on unoccupied, usually
government-owned, land.
Nonetheless, these differences do not detract from the historical
interest of the problems of the kampong question as precursors of those
posed by the squatter settlements in Southeast Asia and other countries
of the Third World, nor do they invalidate the insight into one of the
processes of urban growth in Indonesia. The final outcome of the
kampong question before the Pacific War, after twenty-five years of
endeavor and only partial success, in spite of the goodwill of the
colonial officials, does lead to consideration whether uncontrolled urban
settlements, however distinguished, will ever attain the standards of
physical environment maintained in other parts of the city. Nevertheless,
it does not indicate that attempts towards improvement of the infra-
structure of uncontrolled urban settlements should not be undertaken.
Ohio University, Athens, U.S.A. •